Call Wisconsin Senators Chris Kapenga & Leah Vukmir

Imagine a law that only benefits rule-breakers and those refusing to get health insurance.

Well, quite recently, Sen. Chris Kapenga (representing nearby Pewaukee, Delafield, Hartland and Waukesha) along with others did more than imagine it; they proposed it. It’s Senate Bill 405, a proposal that kills the long-standing law in Wisconsin known as the “collateral source rule.” Senate Bill 405 was referred to the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety where the Vice-Chair is Senator Leah Vukmir (representing nearby Brookfield, Elm Grove, New Berlin, West Allis and Wauwatosa).

Basically, collateral source law says that benefits an injured person receives from sources that have nothing to do with a rule-breaker causing injury may not be used to reduce rule-breaker’s liability. In other words, rule-breakers don’t get credit for benefits the injured owns. This has been the law of Wisconsin for about 100 years.

The simple truth behind current law is clear: genuine accountability requires rule-breakers not benefit from the fact that the person they wronged was smart. Unfortunately, politicians are getting in the way of protecting our rights. Somehow, car insurance companies like American Family and West Bend convinced politicians, like Kapenga, that rule-breakers should benefit from the fact that the injured person had insurance. The Kapenga proposal harms senior citizens, people who get insurance through their employer (or buy it), and the poor, and benefits those who don’t get health insurance and rule-breakers.

Let me illustrate: Say there’s a car crash where a rule-breaker causes 4 people to incur $100,000 in medical bills each. All 4 suffer the same injury and need the same treatment. Person #1 has no insurance, Person #2 United Healthcare, Person #3 Medicare, and Person #4 Medicaid.

The Kapenga proposal allows rule-breakers’ evidence of Person #2’s United Healthcare paying 80% of the bill, Person #3’s Medicare 60%, and Person #4’s Medicaid 40%. As a result of his proposal, the recovery for medical bills will likely be:

Now remember, the bill for each was $100,000. They suffered the same injury in the same crash, but with Kapenga’s proposal, rule-breakers benefit from Person #2’s UHC, Person #3’s Medicare, and Person #4’s Medicaid. Under current law, red-light-running rule-breaker pays $400,000 to all 4, but under Kapenga’s proposal, red-light-running rule-breaker pays just $280,000. Under the 100-year old Wisconsin law, rule-breakers don’t benefit, but under Kapenga’s proposal, they do.

Politicians often make bad law, but I hope that’s not the case here. I believe in better. You deserve better. Sen. Kapenga and Sen. Vukmir should not support Senate Bill 405. LET THEM KNOW THAT! Tell them Senate Bill 405 benefits rule-breakers and the uninsured and punishes those of us who are responsible!